Tribulations of Love
by Madriddler
Summary: Sora confesses to his longtime friend and boyfriend that he is genderfluid, identifying as both male and female, and preferring both pronouns. Riku, being the loving boyfriend, does his best to adjust and help Sora get comfortable with her new identity, however there are always problems. Such as a fear of coming out again, and how Sora's friends and family will react.


Tribulations of Love

Ch. 1

Confession

(Riku)

I love my boyfriend, he's the hottest, cutest, and sweetest boy in the world. Sora and I, we've been dating for two years, since we were fifteen, and we've been friends since we were five. It was like we were just made for each other, you know? He was exactly a head or so smaller, fitting perfectly in my well-toned and muscled arms. Both Sora and I were always conscious of our health, so we actually go to the gym together, although I tend to stick to the weighs while Sora focused on the cardio, but I forced my goofball to do some machines that I knew that he would love… like the leg curls and squat machines… my boy is a beast on leg day! And his ass really improved with it…

Sorry, where was I? Oh right, my name is Riku, Riku Ives and, well I'm gay, love my boyfriend, almost six foot and work out regularly. I want to say that I'm pretty chill, though Sora swears I have a short temper. I don't see it. Right now, I am driving to pick up my boyfriend, we agreed to go shopping for clothes for the fall and winter. It was already the end of September, and we've settled into a nice routine. I'm on our school's football team, so I kept having to remember my practices. I wish I was the quarterback, but that honor goes to Mr. Popularity, Axel King… he and I don't get along, but we agreed to keep it civil on the field. Anyway, who cares about that dip, I should focus on my boyfriend.

Sora Hikari, quite literally the light of my world. I love him so much, I just don't know what to do without him… Smiling to myself, I turned on the radio and hummed along as I continued my drive so Sora's home. He lived with his parents and younger brother in a nice house by the city suburbs. It was near a park and a public pool that Sora and I go to all the time during the summer with Sora's younger brother. I found a parking spot right in front of the house and saw that the driveway was full. Humming to myself, I walked the short pathway from the sidewalk to the front door and rang the doorbell. The large red wooden door opened, and a small teen around fourteen with blonde spiky hair greeted me. "Hey Riku!" he grinned.

"Hey Roxas, how's it going squirt?" I said, ruffling Roxas's hair. He blushed as he tried to knock my hand out of the way.

"Fine, but I'm not a squirt anymore! I'm a high schooler," Roxas said.

"Yeah well you're always my little squirt," I chuckled, "Sora's in his room?"

"Yeah," Roxas nodded, his smile lessened slightly, "There's something a bit odd though…"

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"It's Sora… he just seems off, I don't know why," Roxas said, "Can you go talk to him?"

"Yeah of course," I nodded. I walked in and made a straight shot for Sora's room—I'll describe the house in detail later—all you need to know is that Sora's room was on the second floor, overlooking the nearby park. I knocked on the door and walked in at Sora's answer.

Sora's room was quaint, his walls were filled with posters of celebrities he had a crush on, singers he liked, and posters of his favorite video games. Sora was sitting on his bed holding a throw pillow with a strange look on his cute face. "Riku…"

"Hey baby," I said, sitting next to him and wrapping my arm around my sweet baby, "Roxas told me that something was up, do you want to talk about it?" I asked, kissing Sora's forehead. He looked strange, like he was debating something inside him. I was silent as he had his internal debate, holding him gentle and just ready to be there.

"Riku… you love me, right?" Sora asked.

"Of course, I do, you're my boyfriend and baby," I said, "what's the matter? Why did you ask that?"

"I…I…" Sora stuttered; his eyes had this emotional feel to them that I knew meant he was struggling with something important.

"Sora… you know you can trust me with anything," I tried to console. Sora nodded. He looked at me and took a deep breath before belting out:

"I'm a girl! And a boy! I'm both!"

Everything stopped. I, I did not know how to react or respond. It was as if time was frozen and before me was my Sora, looking so vulnerable, so scared… his cerulean eyes were doe-like and full of fear, shimmering in tears that feared to spill. I hated that look; I hated this feeling of hopelessness and helplessness. I'm Sora's boyfriend! His best friend! He shouldn't have to feel that way around me. It hurt my heart and my pride. I guess I was silent for too long as Sora's eyes looked up at me in a sad way and tears began to leak out.

I found my arms were shaking, my head still could not comprehend what was going on. I looked down at my boyfriend and stood up suddenly.

"Riku…" Sora said in a pleading voice. He thought I was going to leave him. I would never do that! There is no way I would ever leave Sora! Ever! To prove that, I reached out and gripped Sora's arm. He gave out a gasp as I pulled him with ease into my body, wrapping my arms around him tightly. He stiffened at first, out of shock, but soon he relaxed under my touch, his arms worming their way around my chest and his held me, squeezing me as he cried into my chest.

"Riku! Riku… thank you, thank you…"

"It's okay," I whispered calmly, petting my baby's hair, "it's okay Sora… I love you; you know that babe, I'll always love you." Sora sniffled and nodded in my chest. I held him as he cried, letting out what seemed like weeks upon weeks of pent up emotions, worries, frustrations, stress and anger, all flowing away one by one, tear by tear. I moved us gently back to his bed and laid down, with my baby on my chest.

I was silent, letting him cry until he was ready. "Thank you…" he hiccupped.

"It's okay baby… now, can I ask you something?" I asked. He nodded softly, looking like an innocent kitten. "What do you mean that you're a girl? And a boy?"

"I… I feel right as both a girl and a boy," Sora blushed, "I felt incomplete for so long Riku… like something was missing. Then… when I was with Kairi one day it hit me. We were fooling around, she had me try on some make up and it started to feel right… I asked if I could try on some of her clothes and when I looked in the mirror it was… it was just right, I felt me, like me…"

"Do you have body dysphoria?" I asked, "Like my cousin did?"

Sora shook his head, "No… I'm… I don't know how to explain it exactly, I'm still wrestling with my feelings. But I do know that I'm comfortable in my body."

"Good, because I'm comfortable in it too," I said, giving Sora a joking smirk. He laughed, thank god, and blushed. "So… you're genderfluid?" I asked, trying to help label it.

Sora frowned, "Maybe," he said, "but… I want to be more feminine… I want to embrace both parts of myself. Maybe that'll help me figure all this out." He squirmed and looked up at me, "We're both gay…"

"Yeah, we are," I nodded.

"That means that you love the same gender," Sora said apprehensively. I could already see where he was going. I quickly flipped us around so that I was on top of him.

"Babe… I'm attracted to the same sex," I said, "and right now I'm looking at my sexy girlfriend who has a sexy body." Sora's eyes lit up. "You want me to call you my girlfriend today?" I asked.

She nodded meekly and smiled, "Yes please…"

"Would it be okay baby… if I use female pronouns for you?" I asked.

"Yes please," Sora nodded. "I… I want to use both I think."

"Okay babe… then here's what we're going to do," I whispered, getting lower and lower onto my baby, "We're going to try it out, I'll treat you like the most beautiful girl that you are… and if you're ever uncomfortable, we'll talk about it."

"Riku," Sora said with a soft yet serious tone, "thank you… this means so much for me."

Smiling, I closed the distance between us, locking my lips on his, grinding my body on his and felt both of our heats. "I love you Sora," I breathed, "you're my world." Still smiling, I rolled off and held out a hand, "Come on babygirl," I said, "don't we have some shopping to do?"

"Y-Yeah! Riku… while we're there… do you think we can get me some new umm…" he glanced around, as if there were invisible people watching us, and whispered, "underwear?"

"Of course Sora," I said, and ruffled his hair, "boy or girl or both or neither… you'll always be my goofball." Sora smiled at that and jumped off of bed.

"I need to get changed!" He said, making me notice that he was still in his pajamas." He was looking at me expectedly.

"What?" I asked.

"Umm…"

I couldn't help but laugh, "Alright, I'll be waiting outside," I said. Sora smiled and mouthed a thank you as I left, running into Roxas who immediately jumped away. "Listening in?" I smirked.

"No! … Maybe," Roxas blushed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.

"Not really…" Roxas said awkwardly. "Is Sora okay?"

"Yeah, Sora's fine," I nodded. "He's just… going through something."

"What?"

"I think you and Sora should talk about it," I said, rubbing the back of my head, "I don't think I'm the best person to talk about it."

Roxas looked confused. I frowned and shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot, "Look," I said, "the important thing is that Sora is fine, he's better and after he gets changed he and I are going shopping—hey, do you have anything planned?" I asked.

Roxas shrugged, "I was thinking of hanging with Hayner," he said. "We might go shopping too… Hayner told me that he had something big he wanted to show me."

"Well, have fun with that kiddo," I said. I knocked on Sora's door and called out, "I'll be waiting downstairs, okay babe?"

"Okay!" Sora's voice rang out through the door. Roxas followed me downstairs and we went to the living room, which had a sectional that could easily fit five people that was pointed towards a large television that was mounted on the wall. Roxas and I were quiet mostly, the blonde turning on the television to fill the noise. After a while, Sora came down wearing a simple pair of skinny jeans and a light sweater, "Ready," she said.

"Alright babe—see you later Roxas," I said. Roxas just raised a hand in goodbye and continued to watch the television.

"Don't spend all your money!" he called out.

"That was one time!"

"Twelve!"

Sora stuck his tongue out and I shook my head, pulling her outside. "Come on goofball," I said. …I hope I'm doing this right, it's hard calling Sora a her but if she wants to be treated like my babygirl today, I have to remember it.

Both in our car, I let Sora pick the music as I pulled out of the curb, "So," I said, "what do you think I should get Sora?"

Sora glanced at me and smiled, "Jockstraps!" he said at once. I laughed loudly and said, "If I'm getting those, you're getting panties—and I'm watching you try them on."

"Okay Riku," Sora said, sticking his—I mean her tongue out, "I'm watching you try on the jockstraps then!"

"Alright," I shrugged. Sora stared at me in shock.

"Dude."

"I'm serious," I said, "besides… it's not like we've never seen each other naked before."

"True," Sora drew out, "but like this will be different!"

I frowned, "How so?" I asked.

"Well… last time I was your boyfriend and now…" Sora blushed. I smiled at her and reached out my hand to hers.

"Want to know a secret Sora?" I said.

"What is it?"

"I have the sexiest most beautiful boyfriend in the world," I began, "but I also have the most beautiful, sexiest girlfriend ever… and her name is Sora Hikari."

Sora smiled and lifted my hand, kissing it. "I'm so lucky to have you," she hummed.

"You're right, I'm lucky to have you," I corrected, and we were off to go shopping.

Sora is more clothes-savvy than me, which I have no problems with. For as long as I remember, Sora was the one who dressed me, even when it was our mothers who brought our clothes. When we were young, Sora would come over to my house on play dates and spend hours looking through my clothes, actually making outfits for me so we can match. It was cute then and is a lifesaver now. We pull up into the closest, popular clothing store and parked in the large parking lot. We usually stop at a department store first before going to the more expensive type of stores, I don't like those to be honest, too selective in my taste, but Sora falls for their lies so I have to oblige.

I got a shopping cart and followed Sora around as we walked into the department store. It was a large area, multiple floors full of clothing, display racks, jewelry and shoes. I couldn't help but scowl as the instrumental tune of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" played in the store. "It's not even October!" I complained.

"Well… hopefully they'll give it a break during October to play Halloween songs," Sora hummed.

"There are Halloween songs?" I asked.

"I don't know," Sora shrugged, "I only know _Nightmare Before Christmas_. Which reminds me, Roxas' is starting that phrase…"

"Oh god no," I groaned, smiling into a small chuckle, "will he memorize the movie?"

"As long as he doesn't discover Hot Topic," Sora joked. "So… shall we do jockstraps and panties first?" she winked.

"Alright," I shrugged and immediately stopped as I heard _his _voice from behind us.

"Jockstraps and panties eh? Getting kinky there, boys?"

Turning around I had the most miss pleasure of being face to face with Axel King. He was taller and fit like me, yet even though I had more muscles, he was somehow Quarterback and Mr. Popularity, something that I couldn't help but guess he had his brother's help with. That bisexual bastard smirked at us and winked, "So boys, who are the panties for? Riku or Sora?" he laughed.

"None of your business King," I scowled. "Come on Sora," I said and wrapped an arm around Sora's waist, trying to lead him away.

"Woah, woah hold on there Riku," Axel said, grabbing my arm, "I was just making friendly conversation."

"Well we're on a date so leave us alone," I growled out, glaring at the prick.

"Boy… your man's got quite a temper," Axel King chuckled. "How about you and me go shopping for a bit while he cools of Sora? I know how to treat a boy right," he winked.

I went livid. Turning quickly I grabbed King by the scuff of his shirt and pulled him down, "Don't you ever talk to my Sora like that, King," I threatened.

"Guys… stop," Sora said, looking around, "Riku please, just let him go." Looking back at Sora, I released Axel's shirt and turned around, returning to our cart.

"Alright fine, be like that," Axel shrugged, "I got a date with a cute blonde today, hopefully he'll be more fun than either of you." We ignored him and I made sure to push our cart a little faster than usual, getting as far away from Axel King as possible.

"Jockstraps and Panties," I said a little more forceful than normal.

"Y-Yeah… you alright?"

"I'm fine, I just want to forget about that dip," I said. Sora did not look convinced so I did my best smile on her, "I'm serious babygirl, I'm fine… but I'll be even better when I see us in a cute pair of panties and sexy pair of jocks."

Sora broke and gave a chuckle, "Deal," he said, and my heart lifting high, I pushed the cart right towards the underwear section.


End file.
